It is well known that roof installation is a meticulous and time consuming process. Certain geographical regions have set forth building codes governing the roof installation process. In one example, the Florida Building Code's Roofing Application Standard (RAS) No. 115, section 6.1, established in 2010, requires shingles and starter strips at the perimeter, i.e., eave of the roof deck to be set in a minimum eight inch wide strip of roofing cement. The roofing cement may be applied over an underlayment. The starter strips, or “starter course,” is important to those known roof installation methods as it is an additional underlayment applied to an already existing underlayment layup that is specifically designed to inhibit vertical forces on roof structures caused by wind. As the starter course is one various underlayment below the roofing structure, there is a higher likelihood of delamination and failure between the layup of underlayments.
Once the roofing cement is applied, shingles are laid over the roofing cement and nailed into the roof. The roofing cement is required at the eave because the roofing shingles are most susceptible to flying from the roof at this location when subjected to heavy wind. When the roofing cement is exposed to heat, the roofing cement acts as an adhesive to bind the shingles to form a waterproof barrier. The Florida Building Code in particular requires the roofing cement to have a maximum thickness of ⅛ of an inch, as excessive cement may cause blistering, or bleed through. As such, applying the roofing cement must be performed with caution so as prevent blistering or bleed through.
The use of the roofing cement during the roof installation process is a time consuming, hazardous, and inefficient method of roof installation. The initial coat of the roofing cement must be applied to the roof with the maximum thickness as set forth in the particular geographic location. If additional coats of the roofing cement are needed, the installer must wait approximately twelve hours for the initial coat to dry before applying an additional coat. As a result, this process often results in costly labor expenses. This is also problematic for installation jobs that occur during inclement weather.
Those installing the roof must be careful not to step on the roofing cement that may bind to the installer's shoes, the air hoses connected to the nails gun, and the like. The roofing cement may also become slippery, causing the installer to slip and fall. As an added problem, the insufficient adhesive properties of the roofing cement often result in the shingles flying from the roof during periods of high velocity wind, e.g., the wind produced by hurricane storms in states such as Florida.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.